Powerless
by hyperpsychomaniac
Summary: Guy misuses SheZow's powers. As a result, they glitch, and he loses them completely. He can't even turn into SheZow! Will he figure out how to get them back? Or are they gone for good?
1. Chapter 1

**A/n:** This was going to be a oneshot, but the idea turned out a little longer. It'll still be short, probably about three chapters or so. Enjoy and please review! :)

* * *

Guy bunched up his pink-clad fists. "You're going down, Mocktopus!" He flew at the monster and powered up a super heavy handed she slap. Mocktopus threw up his tentacles to block the attack, but it did little good. He screeched as he sailed across the road and crashed against a building.

Guy landed in front of his enemy and put his hands on his hips. "Had enough, fish-face?" His cheeks were burning from the massive grin he wore. He felt awesome. He was pretty sure he'd grown about two inches in the last month, and SheZow's powers seemed to have taken a bit of a boost as well. Mocktopus had gone down quicker than usual; SheZow's punches and slaps seemed to do more damage.

Mocktopus stuck out his tongue. "You're nothing but a big bully."

"Pfft. So don't go flipping cars in main street and I won't have to stop you, you…" Guy cut off his insult and flushed, as his voice decided now was a good time to crack. Goddess. That had to stop soon, right? SheZow's voice was hard enough to put on without his own still trying to decide which octave to settle on.

Mocktopus frowned at him, but before he could question the superhero's acoustics, the wail of sirens sliced through the air and a police cruiser slewed around the corner.

"Sheriffic." Guy groaned.

The cruiser screeched to a halt and Officer Wackerman and Boxter piled out into the street. They surveyed the flipped cars around about them, and Boxter let out a theatrical groan. "Oh, come on, Shezow. Why do you have to break everything?!"

"That wasn't me, it was Mocktopus!"

"Officers, help me, she's beating me up," said Mocktopus, waving a few tentacles in the air.

Boxter rolled his eyes. "We'll arrest you, how does that sound?"

Mocktopus' eyes widened, then he just let out a little 'aw' noise, and hung his head.

"Wait, hang on," said Guy. "This is my fight. I stopped Mocktopus, not you."

"Yeah, and now the cops are here. So we're going to arrest him." Boxter folded his arms across his chest. "You got a problem with that?"

"Yeah, I do." Guy squared his shoulders. "You can't even get here in time to stop him, and now you're just going to take over? Why don't you go and hand out some parking tickets or something?"

Boxter gritted his teeth. "Well, what do you want do with him?"

"Well, um, I was just going to kick him, then toss him back in the ocean…"

Boxter snorted. "And then he'll be back causing trouble in a week. But then I suppose you'd have an excuse to trash more of Megadale, wouldn't you?"

Guy bunched up his fists. Seriously? Did his father think SheZow just did this for kicks? That was, like, half of it, tops. "I'm trying to help you guys, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, and you subdued Mocktopus for us, and you actually managed to do it whilst only trashing a few cars, congratulations," Boxter drawled. "But we're the law, not you. And we're going to arrest him. Argument over. Come on, Wackerman. Lets, er… figure out how to do this." The two cops moved over to Mocktopus. Wackerman pulled out a pair of handcuffs and then paused and scratched at his head.

Guy gritted his teeth. "You have got to be kidding me." Sure, his father could tell him what to do at home. But not SheZow. SheZow didn't have to listen to anybody. Guy stomped up, grabbed Mocktopus by a tentacle, then flung him around his head and hurled him towards the bay. Mocktopus' squeal rapidly faded.

"Hey!" Wackerman said.

"SheZow!"

"There," Guy dusted imaginary dust from his palms, "problem solved."

"You want to play it like that?" Boxter growled. "All right. Fine. You've interfered with a police operation. So I guess we'll just arrest have to arrest you."

Guy's jaw hung open. "Are you kidding me?"

"Nope."

"This is shediculous! All right," he flung his arms wide. "Arrest me!"

Boxter frowned, and then just shrugged. "Okay." He pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

Wackerman sighed. "That won't work you know. She'll just snap them."

"Yeah, but at least she'll know we're serious."

"You are not putting those on me."

Boxter reached out to put the handcuffs on SheZow's wrists. He was serious! Guy felt his muscles shaking, hands tense. He slapped the handcuffs away. "No!"

Boxter dropped the handcuffs and drew back his hand with a hiss, grabbing at his wrist. His eyes narrowed.

"Alright, no more mr nice girl." Guy took a step forward. "I help you, so you don't get to arrest me. You couldn't if you wanted to!"

Boxter backed up a few steps, until he bumped up against the police cruiser behind him.

Guy followed him, until he was inches from his father's face. "How do you think I like it when you pull down everything I do?!"

Boxter flattened himself against the car's body, and swallowed hard. "I'm just trying to do my job."

"Yeah, well so am I."

"What you do is not a job."

Guy slammed a fist into the bonnet of the cruiser beside Boxter. "It's not up to you!"

Boxter flinched and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Whoa, let's not get too carried away…" Wackerman stepped up beside them, hands raised in front of him. "We can work this out, no one needs to get hurt."

Guy drew in deep breaths, and then stepped back. "Stay out of my way. How does that sound?" He took to the air and flew away.

* * *

Guy sat slumped in his chair at the dinner table, poking his mashed potatoes around his plate. His shoulders were tense, waiting for the inevitable rant. What would his father have to say about SheZow this time?

But Boxter was uncharacteristically quiet, so much so that Droosha was the one who eventually had to ask: "So how was work today, sweetheart?"

"All right…" Boxter said, poking at his own food with a clear lack of enthusiasm.

Droosha smiled faintly. "SheZow?"

Boxter huffed. "Yeah, SheZow. Just being a little b… brat. Like usual. She…" he trailed off and fumbled with his food. "She… ah… you know. Left a mess downtown." He offered no more, and the clink of cutlery filled the silence.

Guy was fairly sure Kelly was shooting him death glares, but he refused to look at her.

"Hey, Kelly," Boxter spoke again, after a brief fight with his piece of steak. At least, Mom had told them it was steak.

"Yeah?"

"When you're doing SheZow stuff… do you have much to do with her?"

"Well, it's online stuff most of the time. Why?"

"She's never tried to boss you around? Or got mad when things don't go her way or… threatened you or anything?"

"Well, she's got an ego…"

Guy choked over his drink.

"… but no." Kelly snatched a look at Guy, eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Boxter smiled faintly and shrugged. "Just checking. And you know you can tell us if you're having any problems with anything, you know that, right?"

Kelly was frowning at her father now. "Yeah, Dad."

Droosha was staring at her husband as well. "Boxter, you want to help me wash up the dishes after dinner?" she finally said.

"Huh?" Boxter blinked. "But it's the kids' turn to… oh. Yeah. Yeah, I think we should do that."

* * *

Mom and Dad took off to the kitchen pretty quick once dinner was finished. So it wasn't difficult to slip down to the she-lair. And as soon as they did, Kelly cornered him. "So what was that all about?" she asked, arms folded, tapping her foot.

"I don't know!" Guy threw his hands in the air. His voice decided to crack again. He flushed. "You know how Dad feels about SheZow."

"It was more than that."

Sheila's screen flickered to life. "Ah. There you are. You've been busy today, haven't you?"

Guy groaned. "Yes, Sheila, I know. I broke some stuff downtown and dented a cop car. But that's what SheZow does sometimes."

"Yes. Perfectly normal behaviour," Sheila said tersely. "Do me a favour: turn into SheZow and do a lap of the she-lair for me."

"Huh?" Guy frowned. "What is this? Punishment?"

"Humor me."

Guy shrugged. Then flung out his fist. "You go girl!" He jumped into the air - Sheila hadn't told him he had to run, so he wasn't going to - and then promptly fell flat on his face. "Ow! Sheila!" he squeaked.

Kelly snorted. "Oh goddess, nice one, Sheila."

"I never told him to fly. And he's lucky that didn't happen when he was flying home."

Guy sat up and rubbed at his head. He held his arms out in front of him, only to find they were still clad in his blue sweatshirt. "Hey, what gives?" He flung out his fist again. "You go girl!" Nothing happened.

Kelly cleared her throat. "Okay. So that's shelarious, but probably bad. What's going on?" She grinned. "It's not puberty, is it? Like, has SheZow realised he's actually a dude and it's confused his powers? Does this mean I get to be SheZow?"

"No," Sheila sighed. "This is serious."

"Yeah, Kelly." Guy stood to his feet and brushed himself off. "You try having your voice go all wacko on you."

"Oh yeah, that's so tough. At least your internal organs don't spontaneously decide to tear down the wallpaper and redecorate!"

"Try having to deal with two teenagers all at once," Sheila huffed. "At least you come down here and give your parents a break once in awhile. Lucky me."

Both kids shut mouths and shuffled their feet.

"So what happened to my powers?" Guy asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say it had something to do with your behaviour today."

Guy raised an eyebrow. "Behaviour? Excuse me?"

"Yes." Sheila said. She moved to the side of her screen, and a pop-up video appeared. Video of SheZow's fight with Mocktopus. More specifically, the bit where the argument between SheZow and Boxter started to get heated, and SheZow backed the cop up against his cruiser. "Collateral damage is one thing. You're SheZow - it happens. But you intentionally used her powers to intimidate someone who was trying to help you. SheZow doesn't do that. She uses her power to help people weaker than her. Not to push them around so she can get her own way."

Kelly stared at the screen, open mouthed. "Guy!"

"What?"

"You can't treat Dad like that!"

"I wasn't going to hurt him. I'd never hurt Dad. I don't know why everyone is getting so worked up!"

"Yeah, but…" Kelly gestured at the screen. "You scared him. Does it look like he thought you weren't going to hurt him? And you heard him at dinner…"

Guy glanced at the screen, swallowed and then looked away quickly. "It's not my fault; they made me mad. And I wasn't going to do anything, I was just venting!"

"How's he supposed to know that?"

"No one can 'make' you feel anything, sweetheart," said Sheila. "But I think it's a pretty good bet your powers glitching has something to do with what happened today."

"Well, my powers are overreacting," Guy huffed, rubbing at his arm. "So… how do I get them back?"

"I don't know. SheZow's powers are notoriously inventive when they decide they have to pull their bearer into line. You'll just have to figure it out. But, I would suggest that you seriously think about what you feel you're responsible for, otherwise I can't see them coming back anytime soon." Sheila switched herself off.

Guy was left staring at her blank screen. "But I… you know I wasn't going to hurt him, right, Kelly?"

Kelly sighed. "I know, Guy."


	2. Chapter 2

Boxter's mood had drastically improved over the past couple of weeks. He came home from work with a spring in his step - the lack of SheZow interference seemed to suit him. But that hadn't stopped him talking about the superhero at the family's dinner time. "So, I haven't seen SheZow all week. Is she still 'taking a breather' as you put it, Kelly?"

Guy groaned, turned his attention to his plate, and stabbed a piece of broccoli.

"Dad," Kelly rolled her eyes. "I told you, she's going through some… stuff. I just have to tell her public she's taking a breather. And she hasn't bothered telling me when she's coming back, so I can't tell you that either."

"Really?" Guy mouthed to his sister. Like he had any control over when his powers came back! He'd tried everything conceivable to activate SheZow. He'd even jumped off the roof, hoping the physical threat would bring his powers back to save him. Luckily, Maz had convinced him to wear a helmet.

"Well, it's been nice not having to worry about her swooping in and trashing everything," said Boxter.

"Maybe she's having a nice long think about how she treats local law enforcement," said Droosha. She stabbed her own vegetables so hard that Guy jumped. "She's lucky I don't have superpowers."

Boxter rolled his eyes. "It wasn't that bad."

Droosha smiled faintly. "Well, you seem happier anyway."

"Maybe she's finally figured out we don't want, or need, her help. I mean, has anything happened that we've needed some pink-clad drama queen crashing in to save the day? I don't think so!"

"You know, maybe she just likes the pink," Guy snapped. And, just his luck, his voice picked that moment to crack horribly, and made his well-thought-out argument sound like a whiny little rant.

"Guy…" Droosha began.

"I'm sorry, I just…" Guy squeezed his eyes shut briefly, then shoved his chair back from the table. "I'm finished. Can I be excused?"

"That doesn't look finished to me, mister."

Guy stood up anyway and stomped out of the room.

"I think he's just grumpy, 'cause, you know… his voice," said Kelly.

Guy felt his cheeks grow warm. At least she was trying, but that really didn't help.

Boxter sighed. "And I thought you'd be the one we'd have trouble with when you two hit puberty."

"Why's that, Dad?" said Kelly, her voice taking on an edge.

"Yeah, Boxter, why?" Mom chimed in.

"No reason…"

The sounds of his family faded as Guy climbed the stairs. He slammed his bedroom door behind him, then leaned heavily against it and groaned. "It'd be just my luck; I'm the first dude to wear the ring, and I go and break SheZow. What do you want from me?!" The ring on his finger gave no reply. Guy grabbed at it, and tugged. He grappled with it for a moment, then gave up with a loud huff. "Well, you can't be done with me, or you would've fallen off or something. I just need to figure out what SheZow needs…" Pink-clad drama queen indeed. Guy snapped his fingers. "That's it! I haven't tried pink yet!"

* * *

The idea was simple enough. He couldn't change into SheZow, and SheZow needed pink to operate. So, if he made her a pink outfit, maybe that would convince her powers to come back.

Guy hadn't counted on how hard a sewing machine was to operate. "Ow!" he drew back the finger he'd run over for the umpteenth time, and shoved it in his mouth.

"This had better work." He dragged the pink mass of material he'd managed to cut, measure, and sew into a rough resemblance of a hooded cape from the machine. I mean, he wasn't even going to attempt anything with sleeves. All he needed was something that was pink, and that hid his identity.

Guy stood in front of his mirror and threw the cape around his shoulders, then pulled the hood down over his face. He narrowed his eyes and growled. One side of the hem was very noticeably shorter than the other. But it covered his clothes, and you couldn't make out details of his face. And he could move without falling over it.

"All right, here goes nothing…" Guy flung out his fist. "You go girl!" Nothing. "Oh, come on!" He sat down on the edge of his bed and put his head in his hands. Then he drew in a deep breath and swiped at his cheek. "Well, you didn't think it'd be that easy."

"Who's gone and cut up my pink table cloth!?" Droosha's voice rang out from downstairs.

Guy gulped, rushed to his closet, and slid down the pole there into the she-lair. "Phew."

Sheila's screen activated. "Oh, sweetheart, what on earth are you trying now?"

"What?" Guy put his hands on his hips. "You haven't been helping me, have you?"

"You need to learn to take responsibility for your own actions…"

"And what do you think this is, huh?" Guy gestured down and flicked the back of the cape out dramatically.

"I don't even know what to say about that."

Guy huffed, and headed over to the Shehicle. "I'm going to find some baddies."

"And how do you expect to fight these baddies? You don't have any powers."

"You don't think I know that!?" Guy whirled back around, fists bunched at his sides. "I'm trying to fix this, and this is the only way I know how."

"I know, Guy. I just don't want you to get hurt. And how will you find bad guys? You're SheSP won't work."

Guy shrugged. "I'll just cruise. Or I'll find Dad, and follow him. I'll be careful, I promise."

* * *

It was growing late in the evening and after hours of cruising, Guy still hadn't found any bad guys to fight. He groaned. "I wonder if this is why the cops never seem to turn up on time. I didn't realise Megadale was so big…" He was just starting to think it was all a waste of time, when the wail of a siren punched though the air, and a police cruiser roared past. Guy grinned. "Now, they look like they're going somewhere important." He followed, but kept his distance. He didn't really want the cops seeing the Shehicle… not being driven by SheZow. I mean, it wasn't like they could tell who he was, but his sewing skills were just plain embarrassing.

He ended up losing the cruiser somewhere within a maze of streets, amongst the warehouses down at the port. "Come on, where'd you go?!" Guy crawled between the buildings in the Shehicle, searching for the cruiser, and then he drew to a halt. He hadn't found the cops, but the warehouse with piles of snow around it in otherwise balmy weather was probably a good bet for villain activity.

Guy stepped out of the Shehicle, then drew his pink cape around himself and repressed a shudder. It was freezing. Still no signs of the police cruiser, or the cops. "Coldfinger must be around here somewhere. I bet if I tried to fight him that would bring my powers back…" he gulped. "I hope."

Guy took a cautious few step towards the warehouse. And then a mound of snow reared up before him. A snowman with glowing red eyes took form, grinned at him, and reached out a fat, somehow muscled, snow-arm.

"Goddess…" Guy bunched up his fists and stood his ground. "You go girl!" he shouted, as the ice monster reached for him. Nothing happened. Guy threw a punch anyway.

"Ow!" It was like hitting solid rock. Guy grabbed at his hand, hugging it to his chest. The snowman was unperturbed. Guy stepped back and stumbled, and dropped to his behind in the snow. He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Hey! Over here, you big brute!" Officer Wackerman materialised in the snow just off to Guy's left. "Pick on someone your own size!"

The snowman turned towards him. And then its head exploded in a puff of snow as a fist slammed clean through the back of its head. "Damn it!" Boxter flicked his hand and winced. "That is a lot more solid than it looks."

Guy flushed and scrambled to his feet."I had that under control."

"Didn't look like it to me," said Wackerman.

"Are you all right?" Boxter asked.

"I'm fine." Guy tugged his cape tighter about himself, making sure the hood was very much down. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing, SheZow," said Boxter. "Been wondering where you'd got to."

"I'm here to get my powers back," Guy huffed. He tugged at his cape. "At least the temporary outfit passes for SheZow.

"Well, actually, we guessed from your car," said Boxter. He raised an eyebrow, and then actually allowed himself a small smile. "I can see why you've been in hiding though."

"It's not funny!" Guy growled, looking at his feet.

"You've lost your powers, huh?" said Wackerman, walking over to stand next to Boxter. "That must suck."

Boxter snorted, and folded his arms. "For her, maybe."

"Yeah, well I lost them, okay? And so I had to make this stupid outfit, just so I can actually go out without people seeing who I am, so I can get them back… and I'm not even strong enough to take down a stupid snowman…"

Both cops were staring at him now. "So what are you doing out here without powers, huh?" Boxter growled. "Picking on snowmen… That… outfit isn't going to protect you. You could get really hurt, you know that right?"

Guy looked up at his father, swallowed hard and took a step back. He'd just told them he had no powers. And SheZow had pinning Boxter to a car. Of course he was mad! But he wouldn't hurt her, would he? Maybe he'd want to know who was responsible for causing the cops so much trouble. And all he had to do was step over, pull back the hood, and he'd find his son. Guy couldn't stop him, not without super strength.

"Hamdon…" Wackerman said, lowering his voice.

"Huh?"

"I think you're scaring her."

"Oh…" Boxter sighed and dropped the cross-armed, broad shouldered stance, and lowered himself into a half-crouch. "Not so sassy without your superpowers, are you? I meant you could get hurt by whatever baddies are crawling around Megadale tonight. So just stay out of the way and let us do our jobs."

"You're not going to… arrest me?"

"I seriously doubt you could give us a reason to," Boxter smiled faintly. "Not without your powers."

"Yeah, so go home," said Wackerman. "We've got enough on tonight without having to arrest you too."

Some of the tension drained from Guy's shoulders. "But hey, wait. I think that's Coldfinger in there. How are you going to take him down? You don't have superpowers either."

Boxter rose back to his feet. "I don't see anyone else here with superpowers, do you?"

"No, but…"

"Well, guess that just leaves us. Come on, Wackerman." The two cops headed towards the warehouse.

"Go home, SheZow," Wackerman called over his shoulder, before the two disappeared inside.

Guy scowled, climbed back into he Shehicle, and started the engine. "I'm going to get myself hurt? What about them?" He let the car run for a moment more, revved it, and then turned it off. Then he climbed out and slunk into the warehouse behind the two cops.

* * *

"You see anything yet?"

"Nothing. But if we run into any more snowmen it's your turn to punch them."

Wackerman groaned.

Guy followed after his father and Officer Wackerman as they made their way across the open floor of the warehouse. He slipped behind a nearby crate.

Boxter kicked a mound of snow. "Nope, no snowmen. Maybe he's gone already."

"What do you make of that?"

Guy peered out from his hiding spot. There was a stack of crates in the middle of the floor, covered with snow and icicles.

"Hang on," said Boxter. He picked up a crowbar lying nearby, and tugged off the front of the closest crate. It popped open, and a whole pile of snow globes clattered out onto the floor. "What the hell… snow globes?"

Wackerman picked one up and inspected it, eyes narrowed. "Well, it's definitely a white powder… maybe it's not snow…"

"I don't think Coldfinger is into that kind of thing," said Boxter.

"Well, I guess we let them know this is all that's here anyways. Forensics can check it out. Who knows what he might be up to." Wackerman pulled out a radio, and was just about to activate it, when the snow at his feet suddenly reared up. A dozen other snow-piles came alive and morphed into furious snowmen.

"Not again!" Boxter swung around, and punched the nearest one in the face. "Bloody hell…" He gritted his teeth, and took a swing at the next one.

"I don't like the police messing with my plans!" Coldfinger strode out of the shadows, and leapt atop the nearest crate. "I'm going to turn you both into cop-sicles! Get them!"

The order was quite redundant. The two cops already grappled with a half-dozen snowmen each. Wackerman went down first, pinned under two big bruisers of solid snow. Boxter managed to turn another two to powder, before two others grabbed him from behind and pinned his arms behind his back. A third stepped up and slammed a snow-fist into his stomach. Boxter doubled up on himself, coughing and spluttering, then sagged to his knees under the weight of the two on his back, defeated.

"Dad!" Guy ducked back down behind his crate and clapped his hands over his mouth. His heart hammered in his chest. He flung out his fist, and said as loudly as he dared: "You go girl!" Nothing happened. "Oh, come on!" He peered back over the crate.

Coldfinger leapt down from his crate and began to pace in front of the pinned officers. "Well, well, well. Now, what are we going to do with you?"


	3. Chapter 3

"What am I supposed to do?!" Guy tugged at his cape, drawing it about himself tight. He cowered behind his crate. He had no powers, no nothing. He might as well not be SheZow at all! He pulled himself up and peered over the crate yet again.

Wackerman and Boxter were still pinned to the floor by the snowmen. Coldfinger paced to and fro in front of the two cops, fists bunched at his sides. Then he whirled to face them. "All right, let them up."

The snowmen moved off, and Boxter and Wackerman stood to their feet. Boxter still held one hand to his stomach, but he didn't appear seriously hurt. The snowmen stepped back, but kept the two cops encircled and up against the mound of crates. There would be no escape.

"What are you doing here, Coldfinger?" Boxter growled.

"None of your business!"

"Now you see how that might make us suspicious?" Wackerman said.

Coldfinger's eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah? What you going to do about it?"

"Arrest you." Boxter shrugged.

"Oh, I'm so scared. I don't know if you noticed, geniuses, but you're outnumbered."

Wackerman snorted. "You think we're stupid enough to come in here without backup? We knew you were here, so we checked in before we did; told them it looked like Coldfinger. So when we don't check in in ten minutes, there's gonna be a tonne of cops down on this place. How do you like that, huh?"

Guy sighed and his shoulders slumped. "So they do know what they're doing. Good to know…"

Coldfinger's eyes narrowed and his hands shook at his sides. "Oh, well, then I suppose by the time your buddies finish their donuts, and squeeze themselves into their cruisers, and roll on over here, I've got a solid half hour before I got to start packing. But I won't be able to use this place anymore; you've ruined my entire plan! You know how long it took to find an abandoned warehouse that wasn't taken?!"

"Well tough." Boxter folded his arms.

Coldfinger rounded on them. Shards of ice grew from his fists, six long daggers with razor sharp edges. The villain grinned. Boxter and Wackerman took a step back and bumped up against the mound of crates. Snowmen cut off any escape to their side.

"Back up might be coming," said Coldfinger. "I might lose my little stash here, but you know what else your buddies are going to find? Two dead cops!" He flung up his fists and the ice shards shot through the air.

Guy gasped, ducked down, and squeezed his eyes shut. A half dozen thuds sounded as the shards slammed into the crates and a man's scream rent the air. Guy looked up.

Wackerman crumpled to the floor, hugging himself so hard it was impossible to tell where he'd been hit. He choked over a sob. "God, help me…"

Boxter dropped to his knees beside his partner and pulled the trembling man into his arms. "It's okay, buddy. I got you. I'm here."

"Oops, that went a bit wide, didn't it? Well most of it." Coldfinger flicked his hands, like he was warming up.

Boxter's eyes watered as he looked up at the villain. "For Gods-sakes; he's just doing his job!"

"Well, it's your fault, you messed things up and made me mad. Don't worry, I'm calming down now. I'll make sure this next one hits home… nice and quick. But it's not going to work if you hold him so tight. Come on, that's just selfish!"

Guy ducked back behind his crate, buried his face against his knees, and choked over tears. "Dad, no…" He lifted his head and grasped the ring on his finger. "Come on, you stupid thing. What do you want from me? Dad's going to die if you don't give me back my powers. I messed up, I get it, and I'm sorry. You can… you can take them away for good for all I care, just give them back long enough for me to save Dad. Please!" Guy drew in a breath, pushed away his tears, then flung out his fist. "You go girl!"

Coldfinger raised his fist and two long shards grew out of it. He pointed the fist at the cops like a cannon. Boxter pulled Wackerman in tighter to his chest.

"Night night, piggies." The shards shot loose.

Guy landed in front of the two cops. "Laser lipstick!" The weapon cleaved clean through the shards and they clattered to the floor harmlessly.

"What in the world?!" Coldfinger stared, mouth open, at the figure in the badly sewn pink cape before him. "Who the hell are you?"

Guy flung off his cape and revealed his full SheZow costume beneath. "Yeah sorry. I've had a bit of a fashion flop these past few weeks. Don't tell anyone."

"SheZow!? Get her!" Coldfinger pointed a finger and screeched. The snowmen reared up, but they were no match for SheZow's laser lipstick. Guy diced them up in seconds, the hiss of vapour filling the air. Then he turned to Coldfinger.

"Guess I'll have to fillet you myself." Coldfinger raised a fist. A shard of ice, shaped like a sword, grew right out of his sleeve. He spun around and the sword clashed against SheZow's laser lipstick.

Guy rammed Coldfinger with his shoulder, knocked him down, then pinned his sword arm to the ground. "You can drop it, or I can cut it off. Your choice."

Coldfinger let out a little meep, dropped the sword and hugged his hand to his chest. "SheZow…" he stuttered. "Sorry about that. It's good to see you again. Been kinda boring without you…"

"Cut the crap, Coldfinger. I don't want to see you messing with the cops again, all right?"

"Huh? But they're just cops. It was just a little fun…"

"I don't care!" Guy's chest was heaving. He brought the laser lipstick up to the villain's throat. "You heard them; they're just doing their jobs. And if you ever hurt any of them again, you'll have to answer to me." He drew back the weapon. "Now get out of here. And tell any other villain you see, they mess with the cops I'm coming after them."

Coldfinger gulped. Nodded. Then scrambled to his feet and ran out of the warehouse.

Guy swallowed hard and his shoulders slumped. He drew in a few breaths, wiped at his eyes, and then turned around.

Wackerman leaned heavily against Boxter, drawing in deep breaths and shaking like a leaf. He clutched his upper arm, just below the shard lodged in his shoulder. The shard was clear of any organs, but it had to have sliced through a mass of bone and muscle.

Guy dropped to his knees beside them. "Hey, is he okay?"

Wackerman swallowed. "I'm cold…" He choked over a sob and sunk against Boxter's shoulder. "Sorry."

"It's fine. You're hurt." Boxter kept an arm around him and turned to SheZow. "We need to get him to the hospital before that thing melts."

Guy stood to his feet. "I'll bring the Shehicle in. It'll be quicker. I won't drive crazy, I promise."

* * *

It was nearly midnight. Guy waited outside the hospital in the Shehicle, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, his gaze lingering on his pink gloves. He had his powers back. But it wasn't as exhilarating as he'd hoped. Sure, they hadn't disappeared again. SheZow must've decided he deserved them back full-time, not just to save his Dad as he had begged them. But if he'd still had them in the first place, Officer Wackerman wouldn't have been hurt.

The hospital doors hissed open and Boxter stepped out. He had his hands thrust deep in his pockets, he looked down at his feet and his gait was slow and heavy. He made it halfway down the stairs before he saw the Shehicle and walked over. "You're still here?"

"Yeah, I figured I should wait around and see if you wanted a lift home?"

Boxter blinked. "I hadn't even thought that far ahead. Um, yeah… thanks." He climbed in the passenger seat.

"Is Officer Wackerman okay?"

Boxter rubbed at the corner of one eye and sighed. "Not really. He's hurt pretty bad. But he'll be okay. At least he's asleep now, so he's not feeling anything." He shrugged. "I probably won't be playing punchies with him anytime soon though."

Guy couldn't think of anything to say that would help, so he just put the Shehicle in gear and pulled out. Maybe taking Dad home would be enough; he sure looked like he'd had enough for the night. Now he was just staring out the Shehicle's window quietly, his gaze far away.

"Hey, listen," Boxter eventually said. "I just… I just wanted to say thank you. When you disappeared, I thought it was great, that we didn't need you. But if you weren't here tonight, I don't know what would've happened. I mean, I do, I…" He rubbed a hand over his face. "You saved Wackerman's life. And mine. I was wrong; we do need you. We're just cops, we can't take on someone like Coldfinger. Against someone like him we're powerless."

"I guess I know what that's like now." Guy drew in a breath and turned to his father. "You want to know how I lost my powers?"

Boxter chewed his lip. "It's not something weird, is it?"

"No. You know that day I pinned you to the car? I shouldn't have done that, and I'm sorry. I lost my powers 'cause I thought it was okay to use them to push you around. That wasn't fair, it wasn't like you could do anything about it."

Boxter watched him for a moment, then turned back to stare out the window. "They came back when you decided to protect us instead."

"Huh?" Well, that made more sense than a delayed response to his dodgy pink cape. Guy shrugged. "I guess so."

"What you said, when you were fighting Coldfinger, about not letting anyone hurt us cops… You meant that, right?"

Guy chewed his lip. That part of the fight, the blood had been pounding in his ears, and all he could think of was stopping Coldfinger from hurting Dad. He couldn't remember his exact words. But he knew how he felt. "Of course."

Boxter kept staring out the window. But he swallowed hard, and for a second Guy saw tears in his eyes. "Well, I can't think of any other superhero in Megadale that'd make a promise like that. And it turns out the only one who cares is the one who trashes property. I mean, I know half the time all we do is hand out parking tickets, but every once in awhile something happens and there's a villain we really have no hope of standing up to. And those times, sometimes, I just wonder if I'm going to make it home to my family. And… and Wackerman shouldn't end up in hospital just for trying to do a job he can't…"

Boxter drew in a deep breath and hung his head, then shook it like he was shaking off nothing more than exhaustion. "Well, it's just good to know you've got our backs. Thanks."

Guy pulled up outside the Hamdon house. He felt a lump in his throat. "I didn't," he said, and then cleared his throat, "I didn't realise it was that tough."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dump on you like that."

Guy smiled faintly. "It's okay. And I do have your back… not sure I can make any promises about breaking things though."

"Yeah, well I think I can let that slide for tonight, SheZow. I couldn't be mad at you if I tried." Boxter stepped out of the car, onto their kerb, and slammed the passenger door behind him. "Thanks for the lift." He paused, and frowned. "Hey, how do you know where I live?"

Guy's eyes widened briefly, then he gave his best smile. "SheSP." He tore off with a screech of tyres.

* * *

 **A/n:** So I hope that this was good. I'm thinking SheZow's powers are kind of mean, but they do tend to do this, if usually with a little more flair. But I didn't want to mess the story up with random silly things happening to Guy like his head blowing up like a balloon or something. XD And Coldfinger would totally try to stab people o_O.

If you enjoyed this, please leave me a review! I'd love to know what you think. :)


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